When I was first starting to write poetry in my early 20s, I didn’t really understand much about it. I hadn’t been an English major in college, nor had I read much American poetry. So I felt simultaneously thrilled, destabilized, and confused...

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

Conscience is an essential human attribute. Nevertheless, in the construction of formal models of the subject it is customarily left outside the framework of theoretical analysis. The Algebra of Conscience, whose first edition appeared in 1982, was the first specialized work modeling the phenomenon of conscience. The method used in this book made it possible to connect moral experience with decision-making procedures on the level of mathematical models. The application of such models allows us to propose the hypothesis of two fundamentally different ethical systems determining the normative patterns of human behavior in situations of conflict. Under the first ethical system the subject's self-esteem is raised if the subject seeks to resolve the conflict; in the second it is raised by seeking to dramatize the conflict. The new edition of The Algebra of Conscience is significantly expanded. The second part of the book, devoted to moral choice, is completely new. Based on the theory presented in the first part, it constructs the model of a subject capable of making an intentional choice. A special variable corresponds to the subject's intention. This development allows us to include within the model freedom of will and freedom of choice, and also to generalize classical 2×2 game theory to the case where outcomes, in addition to having utility measures, are either `positive' or `negative.' In its concluding chapters the book constructs a dynamic model of the intentional subject faced with a choice between two alternatives, neither of which is morally acceptable for the subject. It is shown that in this case the probabilities of choice of the alternatives may change chaotically. From this it follows that one cannot predict which alternative will be chosen or even the probabilities with which they will be chosen. Audience: The book is addressed to a broad readership having elementary knowledge of mathematical logic and the theory of probability. It can be used in college courses studying the modelling of moral choice. The book's material can also be used in the design of artificial intelligence systems.

Description

Includes bibliographical references (p. 349-352) and indexes.

Table of Contents

Foreword; A. Rapoport. Acknowledgments to the second edition. Acknowledgments to the first edition. Preface to the second ediction. Introductory Chapter. Part One: Ethical Systems.I. Moral Cognition. II. Ethical Systems and Boolean Algebra. III. Boolean Algebra, Exponent, Logarithm. IV. Individuals, Reflexion, and Interaction. V. Automata with Semantics and Ethical Status. VI. A Formal Representation of Doubts and Feelings. VII. A Formal Comparison of Ethical Systems: Guilt, Condemnation, Doubt. VIII. A Formal Comparison of Ethical Systems: Doubts and Ethical Status. IX. Ethical Analysis of Artistic and Propagandistic Literature. X. Experimental Analysis of Normative Individuals. XI. The Principle of Maximization of the Ethical Status of One's Image of Oneself. XII. Feelings and Sacrifices. XIII. Formal Connections between Modules of Inner Structures and Individuals. XIV. Interaction. Activity and Its Measure. XV. Ethical Typology in the Novel Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky. XVI. Ideology, Morality, and Political Organization. XVII. Generalization. Proof of Existence of Ethically Non-Measurable Situations. Part Two: Moral Choice.I. The Tree-Faced Janus: An Initial Metaphor for the Model of the Subject. II. A Boolean Model of Bipolar Choice. III. Metachoice. IV. Modeling of Awareness. V. The Prisoner's Dilemma. VI. The Morality of Results and the Morality of Means. VII. A Boolean-Linear Model of the Subject. VIII. Examples of Modeling the Process of Choice. IX. Imitation of the Other. X. The subject Controlling His Relationships with Another Subject. XI. Two Aspects of Choice. XII. Generalization of Classical Game Theory of 2×2 Zero-Sum Game. XIII. Risk and Caution. XIV. The Non-Linear Model of the Subject. XV. Subject with a Quadratic Model of the Situation. XVI. Streams of Consciousness and Difference Equations. XVII. Streams of Consciousness and Acts of Awareness Epilogue to Part Two. Appendices. References. Index of Names. Subject Index.